When Heroes Flee
by cece1090
Summary: We all have a routine that we've settled into. But when life decides that we're too comfortable, we find ourselves visiting those places we thought were buried. Once again we realize, the past is never really buried.


Disclaimer: I own nothing of Grey's Anatomy

They say that 'so much of our time is preparation, so much is routine, and so much retrospect, that the path of each man's genius contracts itself to a very few hours.' Maybe Emerson had a point that we only get so much time left to us and we often forget that detail until it becomes compromised. We live our lives every day and eventually we find ourselves in a rut, a routine that we've become comfortable with, until the day where it all changes and suddenly that rut and that comfort that we've taken for granted leaves us.

We find ourselves in a place that we thought we would never have to return to.

Grey's Anatomy

The cold air was brisk as Izzie Stevens made her way to Seattle Grace Hospital for a long day of work ahead of her. She was very well aware of what her day was going to look like, go to Starbucks, get your latte, run in right on time, deal with George's never ending infatuation with Meredith, be brushed off by Meredith and Christina, fight with Alex, and try to beat everyone else first by getting involved with a cool surgery.

Her day was priceless and then she'd end it all by going back home, well to Meredith and George that is. The truth was, Izzie loved being a doctor and saving lives and was more than comfortable with the routine she had. This was her life, and she was satisfied. Not necessarily happy, but satisfied nonetheless.

She reached the hospital's doors and proceeded to the locker room to get ready for her day. When she arrived, George was lying on the cold ground, completely sound asleep. She laughed quietly to herself. _So this is where he was all night? _She was about to hit him lightly to wake him up, but she grinned even bigger when a better idea popped into her wicked head. She tiptoed to the bathroom and filled up a large plastic cup with cold water, laughing in her head the whole way and proceeded back to George's sleeping form. She giggles slightly and then dumped the entire contents all over his head and down to his chest.

George immediately woke with a shout and jumped up. He was so beyond angry it shouldn't even had been funny. Unfortunately, George's pain always was humorous to Izzie, especially when it was by her own doing. She immediately doubled over in laughter at his livid expression.

"What? Do you think this is funny Stevens? I just spent the entire night sleeping in this miserable hospital because I was too tired to walk back home!" Replied George pausing waiting for her to sober up and apologized for obviously been insensitive to his feelings.

But, Izzie continued to laugh even harder, to his dismay.

"Okay, so apparently you do think this funny. Well ha ha to you." He said through his teeth as he started walking out of the room.

"Wait wait wait George!" Izzie finally said as she started after him, still somewhat laughing. "Look, I'm sorry. Next time I promise I will be more sensitive to your problems and not poor cold water on you while you're asleep." She stated seriously, but George didn't miss the glint still lingering in her eyes.

"Fine, I guess I forgive you." He said as he lightened up.

As soon as the words escaped his mouth, the doors flew open to Meredith and Christina talking and laughing about something and paused as they noticed George's soaking form. Meredith eyed him curiously and then looked at Izzie.

"So, what happened to you?" Christina asked breaking up the silence.

"Nothing you wouldn't have done if you had found him sleeping on the floor." Izzie stated matter-of-factly.

Meredith looked between Izzie and Christina with a confused expression on her face and then Christina started immediately bursting into fits of laughter. George then rolled his eyes at the scene before him.

"Great, now I'm never gonna be able to sleep in here ever again." He said agitatedly. "What is it about you two that you love making my life a living hell?" He finished exasperatedly.

"I am so beyond confused right now." Meredith said confusingly. "What?" She said questioningly.

"Nothing, just don't worry about it." Christina stated while shaking her head and laughing.

"So I've been paged to the ER. What about you guys?" George asked changing up the conversation.

"Yeah, me too. So I guess I'm going." Meredith said and walked out the door.

"Well, I guess I should head down there too before the Chief starts wondering where I'm at." George stated and follows Meredith.

Christina looks up at Izzie and two just stand there for a moment of awkward silence.

"So…" Christina throws out there.

"Um, yeah. I'm going to go find Dr. Bailey. So uh, I'll see around." Izzie states and hurries out the door.

"Yeah, guess I'll go find Burke."

Izzie ran to the OR to find Bailey to see what she would needed her to do. She couldn't help but feel a bad feeling in the pit of stomach as she went looking for her boss. _It's just the Starbucks; caffeine can do so much crap to your system. Just calm down. _She told herself in her head.

She went to the desk in the OR to ask if she had seen Bailey.

"Hey, uh have you by chance seen Dr. Bailey?" She questioned the girl.

"Yeah, she's in the ER. Some freak car accident and a twelve year old girl is unconscious." She said worriedly.

_Yes! Finally a good surgery! _Izzie thought to herself as she ran towards the ER. This was just what she needed today, but her excitement grew into anxiety quickly because she just couldn't shake the feeling that she had. But she quickly put it into the back of her mind as she reached the ER.

"Dr. Bailey!" She called out as she rushed towards her.

"Finally got here I see Stevens. I paged you at least three times." She responded angrily.

"What?" She responded confusedly, never recalling her pager going off. "My pager never went off." She said quietly as she reached for it. She looked at it and it occurred to her that the screen was completely black. The batteries were dead.

"Sorry, the battery died. Anyways, what's the deal with this kid?" She asked her voice rising in anticipation.

"Car crash, classic drunk driver decided to run a red light and ran right into her car. Fortunately, her parents were not there, she was with a friend who along with her mom died. So if she survives, at least she still will have her family." She stated calmly. "Okay, here they come." She said straightening herself as the paramedics arrived.

The doors flew open and one paramedic jumped out while the other was holding the girl's hand.

"She's very unstable! Her abdomen was crushed to her spine, but somehow she survived! She's loosing lots of blood!" The one paramedic yelled while helping the other get the gurney down.

"Stevens! Go get Burke now! If her spine has been damaged, she could be permanently paralyzed! Hurry!" Bailey yelled while hurrying the girl into the building.

"Hold on!" Bailey yelled and Izzie ran back. "Give him this. It's her information. He needs to know. Then go scrub in immediately and report back with me. This girl has to go into immediate surgery." Bailey finished as she handed Izzie the folder and pushed the girl into the OR.

Izzie ran to the third floor knowing Burke would be in there. She didn't take the elevator knowing the stairs would be quicker. She found the room he was in and threw the door open.

"Burke! It's Bailey. We have emergency surgery and she needs the both of us now!" She said exasperatedly.

"Okay, okay. Let's go." He said while they both hurried out the door.

"What's the information?"

"Uh, twelve year old girl, car accident, potentially damaged spinal cord, crushed abdomen." She stated.

"Name?"

Izzie quickly opened the folder and looked at the name scribbled down.

Brionna Cartley

She immediately stopped walking and she felt as if someone punched a hole in her chest. The world was starting to blur and suddenly she could find what was up and what was down. Brionna Cartley. The word echoed in her mind over and over again.

"Stevens!" A voice yelled.

She had had a feeling. She should have listened to that feeling, but no blamed it on the caffeine. Suddenly she realized that she wasn't a doctor here anymore. She realized that she was playing the piece of family waiting and desperately hoping that their loved ones would be alright.

There she was, collapsing because she just realized that that twelve year old girl with a crushed abdomen and a strong potential future of never being able to walk again was no longer just a patient anymore.

That twelve year old happened to have been the child she gave up for adoption twelve years ago.

Her child.

So, what do you think?


End file.
